FIBA EUROLEAGUE 2015-15 RESULTS : • Spanoulis leads Olympiacos past Valencia on the road ... Olympiacos Piraeus had a strong start in the 2014-15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague by edging Eurocup champion Valencia Basket 68-71 on the road in front of 8,500 fans in Group D on Thursday. Vassilis Spanoulis led the winners with 21 points and 5 assists. Matt Lojeski and Kostas Sloukas each added 14 for Olympiacos. Luke Harangody led Valencia with 14 points. Dwight Buycks and Romain Sato each added 11 while Sam Van Rossom had 10 for the hosts. Olympiacos had a slow start but Spanoulis and Lojeski allowed the Reds to get a 18-20 edge after 10 minutes. Vladimir Lucic and Pau Ribas allowed Valencia to get a 26-22 lead but an outstanding Spanoulis got help from Sloukas to make Olympiacos regain the lead, 36-38, at halftime. Lojeski stepped up late in the third quarter to boost the Reds lead to 43-49 but Valencia found a go-to guy in Dwight Buycks, who brought the hosts back in the game. A dunk by Harangody made Valencia regain the lead, 58-56, late in the fourth quarter. Valencia led 62-58 with 4 minutes left but Spanoulis, Lojeski and Othello Hunter led an 0-8 run which put Olympiacos ahead, 62-66. Valencia managed to tie the game, 68-68, with a minute left. Sloukas sank 3-of-4 free throws in the final 6.8 seconds and Valencia could not overcome that deficit down the stretch. • Unicaja opens campaign with big road win ... Unicaja Malaga opened its new Turkish Airlines Euroleague campaign in style, downing Cedevita Zagreb 63-78 on the road in the Croatian capital on Thursday. Unicaja took control of the game, and the lead for good, in the second quarter during which Fran Vazquez scored 13 points, all while the visitors put together a 0-14 run late in that period, helping it to 36-47 halftime advantage. In the second half margin was often in double figures, and Cedevita never got closer than 7 points despite the efforts from Miro Bilan and Ante Delas. But Unicaja kept the lead safe with long range shots from Ryan Toolson, and fourth quarter spurt from Caleb Green, as the visitors cruised to victory. Toolson netted 20 points for Unicaja, Vazquez finished with 13 plus 8 rebounds, and Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored 12 points. For Cedevita, which missed point guard Roko Ukic, it was Bilan leading the way with 15 points plus 10 rebounds, and Ante Delas added 12 for the hosts in defeat. • Reigning champ opens new season with home victory ... Reigning Turkish Airlines Euroleague champion Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv opened the defense of its title with a 92-76 victory at home over Limoges CSP in Group B. Jeremy Pargo collected 20 points and nine assists while Devin Smith had a double-double at halftime already, and ended with 13 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks for Maccabi. Marquez Haynes added 15 points, while Sofoklis Schortsanatis had 11, Brian Randle 10 and Guy Pnini chipped in nine points, four assists and three rebounds. Maccabi, which made 9-of-19 three-pointers, pulled away from Limoges for good at the end of the third quarter with a 21-7 run over the final 3:46 minutes of the period. Limoges was unable to take advantage of a 19-3 advantage in offensive rebounds, and made just 8-of-29 three-pointers in taking the loss. Adrien Moerman picked up 17 points and 12 rebounds while Joao Paulo Batista had 15 points, Jamar Smith scored 14, and Leo Westermann tallied 10 in defeat. • Anadolu Efes holds on to big home win ... Anadolu Efes Istanbul opened the 2014-15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague season with a big win by downing Unics Kazan 82-76 at home in Group A on Thursday. Former Eurocup MVP Dontaye Draper paced the winners with 16 points, a new Euroleague career high. Nenad Krstic added 15, Matt Janning had 12 while Stratos Perperoglou got 10 for Efes. Keith Langford led Unics with 19 points. James White added 13 and 10 rebounds, Curtis Jerrells had 11 points while Dor Fischer got 10 for the guests. Efes opened the game with an 0-8 tun but three-pointers by Kostas Kaimakoglou, Jerrells and White allowed Unics to get an 8-11 lead. Janning and Draper allowed Efes to regain the lead, 20-19, after 10 minutes. A 10-0 run which Draper capped with a layup gave Efes the lead for good, 30-21. Efes improved its marin to 45-34 behind an outstanding Krstic and then again to 54-36 on a rainbow jumper by Cedi Osman. Jerrells, Langford and White allowed Unics to return to the game and a three-pointer by Kaimakoglou made it a five-point game, 70-65. Draper and Krstic stepped up in crunch time to lead Efes to a hard-fought, well-deserved home win. • Crvena Zvezda takes first Game of the Week against Galatasaray ... The first Game of the Week this season witnessed a beautiful, energetic Group D duel between Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade and Galatasaray Liv Hospital Istanbul on Thursday night. In front of a jam packed Kombank Arena in Belgrade, Serbia, Zvezda stepped up and took the first win of the season thanks to the connection between point guard Marcus Williams and big man Boban Marjanovic, who led the way to a 76-68 win for the hosts. Zvezda started the game strong, but Pietro aradori launched Galatasaray to a 0-12 burst to jump ahead. However, Jaka Blazic led the comeback for Zvezda, and Marjanovic and Williams took care of the rest in the second half, as the athleticism of the guests, combined with the energy of the fans, launched the team into the win. Marjanovic was the man of the game for the winners with a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. Williams added 15 points and 7 assists and Blazic contributed 12 pointsfor Crvena Zvezda. For Galatasaray, Zoran Erceg had 17 points and Pietro Aradori nailed 11. • Laboral runs away from Neptunas for new seasons first victory ... Laboral Kutxa Vitoria held serve at home to win the first game of the 2014-15 Turkish Airlines Euroleague by 88-69 over visiting Neptunas Klaipeda in Group D on Wednesday. Laboral lived up to the honor of starting the Euroleague season with the only game of the night at home by pulling methodically away from Neptunas to comfortable leads in the second half. Neptunas had hung tough in the first half of its Euroleague debut, but couldnt stop a trio of all-around Laboral performers with more experience. Davis Bertans debuted for the hosts with 20 points, including 4 of 7 three-point shooting, and had 2 blocked shots. Thomas Heurtel scored 13 points, dished 10 assists, matching his Euroleague career high, and made 4 steals. And Fernando San Emeterio has 12 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. Heurtel had more assists and Bertans more blocks than the entire Neptunas team. Donatas Zavackas paced the visitors with 17 points and 7 rebounds, while Simas Galdikas had 11 and 5, respectively, but otherwise Neptunas struggled to do much.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 02:54:45 +0000
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